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VANCOUVER — Continuing hot, dry weather is expected to bring more wildfires to British Columbia and increase the size of four existing major blazes.

The province has put extra firefighters on standby and requested help from Ontario to assist in the already 63 fires burning in the province.

The 21-person team from Ontario was scheduled to arrive in Kamloops on Sunday.

Environment Canada reported Sunday night that record-high temperatures were measured in four communities on the weekend — Lytton, Pemberton, Lillooet and Kamloops — with a possibility of more to come.

The average high temperature in each community was about 40.5 C.

The biggest fires are in northern B.C., sparked by lightning and whipped up recently by strong winds, but the B.C. Forest Service is also bracing for dry lightning that is forecast to hit the southwestern corner of the province, including the Manning Park area.

Environment Canada says temperatures in northern B.C. are 8 to 10 C above normal, and heat records are expected to be broken this week.

"And it's only expected to increase from here on in. We don't anticipate a break in the (hot, dry) weather for at least the next seven to 10 days," said Saini.

In a written statement released Sunday, Forests Minister Steve Thomson called on British Columbians to be extra vigilant while enjoying the outdoors and to fully extinguish any campfires before leaving them.

The number of firefighters battling the most crucial blaze in the province increased to 160 Sunday.

The 3,800-hectare Red Deer Creek fire, more than nine times the size of Stanley Park, is southeast of Tumbler Ridge in northeast B.C. near the Alberta border.

About 200 workers stationed in oil and gas camps — in the important Montney natural gas area — have had to be evacuated and firefighters have deployed sprinklers to keep the camps and equipment wet.

So far, no structures have been lost to the fire, said Saini.

Firefighters are building fire breaks to contain the blaze with the help of heavy equipment such as bulldozers and feller-bunchers (which cut down trees), but the fire is expected to increase in size.

Another fire west of Quesnel has grown to 1,200 hectares and forced the evacuation of occupants at the Euchinko Lake Ranch Lodge. More than 40 firefighters are trying to contain it.

That fire is in the heart of mountain pine beetle territory, where large swaths of lodgepole pine have been killed in the past decade. The blaze was sparked by lightning last Tuesday.

Another 20 firefighters are fighting a 4,000-kilometre blaze west of Williston Lake, about 300 kilometres northwest of Mackenzie.

About eight kilometres east of Mackenzie, eight firefighters are fighting an 80-hectare blaze in steep terrain that's expected to get bigger.

There are no campfire bans in the province, but Saini said they are reminding people to use small, safe fires and supervise them at all times. "Common sense is the key. If a fire is too big to be contained, it's not safe," she said.

In Metro Vancouver, Environment Canada issued a special weather statement as the region was hit with its first heat wave of the summer.

The statement, posted Saturday, said the highest temperatures of the hot spell were expected Saturday and Sunday for coastal B.C., with highs approaching or exceeding 32 C inland.

In Metro Vancouver, the hot weather is expected to continue through Wednesday with afternoon temperatures ranging from the mid 20s to close to 30 C.

Late Sunday, the political body and service provider overseeing the Greater Vancouver regional district's 24 local authorities issued an air quality advisory.

Metro Vancouver warns people that high amounts of ground-level pollutants are expected to persist for days, and it asks people to avoid strenuous outdoor activities during mid-afternoon.

Infants, the elderly and those with lung conditions or heart disease are especially vulnerable.

David Wray, a meteorologist with the agency, says temperatures in the southern half of the province appear to be 10 to 11 C above normal for this time of year.

Wray says it is important to wear sunscreen because it will only take about 15 minutes for skin to get burned.

Meantime, the BC SPCA is again pleading with pet owners not to leave their dogs in hot cars — not even for a few minutes.

BC SPCA spokeswoman Lorie Chortyk said despite all the warnings about the dangers of leaving animals in cars, the agency is "being inundated with calls this summer to rescue pets left in parked vehicles."

She said last month, the BC SPCA responded to 228 calls to rescue dogs in distress who had been left in hot cars by their guardians.

"In just minutes, the temperature in a parked car can climb to well over 38 C. Dogs have no sweat glands, so they can only cool themselves by panting and by releasing heat through their paws," she said.

Dogs can withstand high temperatures for only a very short time — in some cases just minutes — before suffering irreparable brain damage or death, she added.

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Wildfires heat up northern B.C.; record highs set in south-central communities

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